New Forest 11th June 2014

With a few spare hours between a site survey and a meeting in Ringwood the birding 'Gods' were twisting my arm to head into the New Forest for a spot of birding - very little twisting was required! Naturally, I was drawn to two of my favourite sites in the forest. First up was Beaulieu Road Station where I walked south from the Shatterford Car Park into the woodland and back again. It was a beautiful morning with the sun shining and the warmth of summer on my back. Stonechats and Dartford Warblers were actively feeding their fledged young while Siskin were still in the process of nest building.

Male Dartford Warbler - Beaulieu Road Station

Male Dartford Warbler - Beaulieu Road Station

Female Siskin - Beaulieu Road Station

With time now short I paid a brief visit to Acres Down where I headed straight for the main raptor watch area. Here within 15 minutes I scored a male Goshawk which circled low over the woods before towering up to the clouds and then headed in a shallow but fast decent south-west. Then after, 45 minutes I had to leave but while bending to photograph a Gold-ringed Dragonfly my gaze was drawn to a larger raptor soaring above the woodland, bingo! Honey Buzzard which showed well but due to my low elevation quickly disappeared from view. This was a nice fawn coloured bird very like the male illustrated in the second edition of 'The Helm Guide to Bird Identification' at the top centre of the Honey Buzzard plate. I failed to get any photos but did get some pleasing shots of the dragonfly. And then I had to head for my meeting and my birding was over.

 Gold-ringed Dragonfly - Acres Down

 Gold-ringed Dragonfly - Acres Down